DOJ seeks forfeiture of $327K in USDT linked to romance scam

The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts filed a civil forfeiture action Monday seeking to recover 327,829.72 USDT, allegedly involved in a money laundering scheme connected to an online romance scam.

Justice Department targets crypto laundering in online romance scam

The complaint, filed in federal court, names the cryptocurrency as defendant property and seeks its forfeiture under federal law as proceeds of fraud and laundering.

According to the complaint, the stolen funds originated from a Massachusetts resident who was targeted in late 2024 on a dating app. The fraudster, identified only by an alias, convinced the victim to send funds for purported cryptocurrency investments that never existed.

Rather than investing the money, the scammers diverted it through a series of cryptocurrency wallets and ultimately converted it to USDT, a common tactic to obfuscate the origin and movement of illicit proceeds.

Several of the wallets in question were seized by law enforcement in August 2025 after blockchain analysis traced connections to the scam.

Under U.S. civil forfeiture law, property traceable to illegal activity may be seized by the government and ultimately returned to victims if the court finds it to be proceeds of crime. The Justice Department’s action allows third parties with a legitimate interest in the property to file claims before any forfeiture is finalized.

Prosecutors said the forfeiture complaint is part of broader efforts to target online frauds, including romance scams, investment schemes, and cyber-enabled financial crime that increasingly leverage cryptocurrency to move and hide funds.

The case highlights both the growing sophistication of crypto-related fraud and law enforcement’s expanding use of blockchain analysis to trace and reclaim stolen digital assets for fraud victims.